ASCA Boston 2010 #2 - our presentation
This was an interesting situation. We designed a presentation just for counselors. Part of it explained what we do to serve 100,000+ students with 5 counselors (ASCA standards call for 1 counselor per 250 students. you can imagne what a shock this was), and part of it was designed to explain our approach & what counselors can do to replicate some of what we do. It turned out that half of the audience knew little about on-line education and the other half were actually in the on-line counseling field just as we are. We spent some time explaining FLVS to the uninitiated and some time explaining the nuts and bolts of what we do to everyone. The focus was on the fact that all counselors these days are confronted with impossible tasks. The real question is, ” What will you do about it?”. The crowd was very engaged, f a little hung over from the fireworks the night before.
The most exciting event was meeting about 10 counselors working in on-line environments form all parts of the country. I even met a counslor from K-12 that wants to talk with us. Our team has been talking for 2 years about reaching out to other on-line (virtual school) counselors. I am excited that this has provided a beginning. They are all eager to get together with us. I believe our dream is going to become a reality. We may eventually be able to develop some best practices for on-line counselors in various environments. Yea!
The presentation went well. and our evaluations were good. Everyone benefitted from this experience. I am eager to get back to work and put into practice some of the things I have learned.
